Busy week all over the place

I am glad you got my pictures 
The guy with the glasses is Benson, he has a
baptismal date for August 3rd, but it isn't really
looking to strong right now, and the women is 
Antonia, she is so amazing and wants to be
baptized once she gets back to Nigeria in a
couple of months!  Yeah, I was pretty tan in
those pictures but I have lightened up a lot
since then.  We had been out porting like
days earlier that week so I had had a lot of sun.
Thanks for the compliment on the hair, 
I actually cut it myself at 6:45 in the morning
in the hallway, haha.  I actually cut it again on
Saturday so its about that same length again.  Its a 
lot easier having shorter hair as a missionary.

I love that stain glass picture, its amazing to
see what they could do hundreds of years ago
(the Salt Lake Temple is another example).

This week has been good, a little all over the
place but good.  Last Thursday we 
had another zone blitz, which we did here in
Metz again because it is the 
central location for our zone.  It went really well again.
It is always such an 
amazing experience having 12 missionaries in one ville!
Sunday we went to church in Saarubruck in Germany
which is always an interesting experience 
because of the language barrier.  You would be surprised
to see how big of a difference an imaginary line
(the border of France and Germany) makes on 
society's and on personality.  But they are all great people.
Then on Monday we had zone conference in Nancy so we
took the train down there on Sunday night and 
stayed at the zone leaders apartment.
Zone conference went well and we talked a 
lot about personal sacrifice.  So right now
I am just trying to figure out what 
else I can sacrifice to be an even better missionary.

One really cool thing that happened this week was
"Faire du Musique," a national holiday here in France
devoted entirely to music!
So, at about 6 o'clock people all over France just
set up all over their villes and start playing music.
I didn't get to hear much of it because we were trying
to still do missionary work and we had to be in at 9,
but from I did experience was really enjoyable.  I 
think America should have a holiday like that.
There wasn't much work we could 
do any way so we just "flew the flag,"
what police call it when they go through small cities
in the US to make sure people know that they are there.
It was a great time though.
 
St.  Cyr looks like is still going to be baptized this Sunday 
which I am stoked for!  The baptism will actually take place
in Germany so that's were I will be again this Sunday.

I am going to try to take one of my suits in to get tailored
a little bit because I have gotten noticeably smaller in the
shoulders and my jackets a little to big.  
And my pants are a couple sizes to big too.

Elder Clayton Henderson Welch

New Pics of Elder Bubba and his Amis

Elder Bubba and Elder Cowles


Cathe'drale De Metz

How Can I Be

Mom and Dad found this arrangement of this beautiful song and asked me to post it. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. The lyrics and the melody are both absolutely amazing. Here are the lyrics and the video.

How can I be like my brother Nephi?
My father Lehi of old?
How can I be like Captain Moroni
In the wars that were told?

How can I see forever
Like the promise to the three Nephites?
I wanna be Samuel the Lamanite
I wanna be Benjamin the Wise
I wanna be like Abinidi
Oh tell me how can I be like them?

How can I be like Alma the Younger,
Strong servant of the Lord?
How can I be like Mighty Ammon,
Whose heart was his sword?

How can I be a stripling warrior,
And learn to fight by faith?
I wanna be Samuel the Lamanite
I wanna be Benjamin the Wise
I wanna be like Abinidi
I wanna be like Jesus Christ
Oh tell me how can I be like them?
Oh tell me how can I be like them?

Miracles Testimony

...Actually it was fathers day here on Sunday as well,
which makes me wonder why father's day is the same
as the US but mother's day here is two weeks later.

My new companion, Elder McKnight, he is the man!
He is from Boise, Idaho but lived in New York City for
a year before his mission.  He went to Columbia University
studying creative writing and economics so he is way smart.  
But he is way cool too.  He was a dj and he started
linebacker for his high school football team too.
I get along with him very well and I think we are 
going to do some good things.  He is in his 7th transfer
and so it is his first time being a senior companion,
and right now we are trying to figure out how we 
can become "mission legends." haha, wish me  luck.

The work here is going very well.  There is a man named
St.  Cyr whom is about 25 and from central Africa and
studying math here in France.  He had a baptismal date like
3 months ago but when his family threatened to disown him 
canceled it 15 minutes before.  His father has since become
a lot more open to the idea and told him he could be baptized
if he could be self sufficient.  So, last Saturday we fasted with
him that he could find a job in Metz along with an 
apartment.  To start the fast we met with him and I shared
with him the story of the brother of Jared and how, like in
Ether 12:12, it tells us, that God can do 
no miracles save it be by faith.  I then told him that
sometimes we need to do things to show our faith to God
and asked him if he would be baptized on June 
29th, two weeks from the day I asked him, and he thought
about it and said yes!  This man has so much faith it is
amazing! I love him and I know that he will find the help
he needs and he will be baptized and I am so excited
to see the miracles that will come from his faith!

I am seeing miracles everyday and,  as our mission mantra is,
the mission of miracles, I can personally testify that this is
a mission of miracles and that no one, not even Satan himself,
can stop this work.  God is our Heavenly Father 
and he has created this plan for us.  Jesus Christ is the only
begotten son and he did indeed suffer for each and everyone of
our sins and he did die for us that we too may be resurrected.
Joseph Smith did see God the Father and Jesus 
Christ, and through him, they did restore the fullness of the
gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority to baptize, heal
the sick, marry for all eternity, and so much more because
of the faith of one 14 year old boy.  I have HOPE that I 
will live with my Heavenly Father again, with each of you and
with all of our family.  I have HOPE that we can do all things
through our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and I have
HOPE that each day I live, each day everyone of us 
lives, we become more like and grow closer to
God our Eternal Father.

Elder Clayton Henderson

Busy Busy

I am doing great!
This week has been a little crazy but I will
try to explain a little.  So the end of the
transfer was Monday, I am
officially in my second transfer in the field.
And, to much assumption on my
part, I am staying in Metz this transfer;
which I am very excited about.  The northern part
of France is infamous for being the "tough" part
of the mission because northern French people are
"cold" or should I say colder, but its not
true.  I love the people and I can't wait to be
here another transfer (6 weeks) if not more.
But, my "dad," my trainer did leave.
He is now a zone leader in
Lyon-the ville I really want to go to-
and he left today.  My new companion is
Elder McKnight, who is supposedly one of
the coolest missionaries in the mission
so I am stoked.  But I haven't gotten to
meet him yet because there is a train
strike today in France, so most trains
were canceled.  So, one of my zone
leaders, Elder Lusty who is like a genius
and whom I would call "classy" as in
Will Farrell classy in anchorman.  I love him,
he is a riot.  So he came up here
today and we are temporary companions for
the day while both of our companions
travel up here tomorrow.  Elder Lusty is
usually in Nancy.  Speaking of Nancy,
last Sunday was area conference, the telecast
from salt lake for most of Europe,
so we were in Nancy last Saturday and Sunday.
Oh, by the way, I went to
Luxembourg yesterday to help the two elders
up there move some stuff; it is such
a cool country!  I hear the richest per ca pita
in the world!  And everyone there
spoke English.  I want to serve there so bad
eventually.  And something crazy
that missionaries are actually illegal in
Luxembourg because Catholicism is the
only "legal" religion; crazy, I know.
But the government knows we are there and
they say it is fine if we are there; the
mission president just needs to give
them the names of those serving there.

Everything else is going well!
I am stoked to meet my new companion and all
of our amis are doing great!  Another whom
I love is Guille.  He looks like
Johnny Depp, but heavy metal style,
and he is like a genius.  We have only
taught him 3 principles from the first lesson
in 3 rendez-vous though because he
talks so much, but he is practically
teaching himself the lessons!  He is
amazing.  He has a rock band and he has
the coolest apartment with like 15
guitars and he is always so excited for us
to come over.  I have a picture with
him I will try to send soon!


I want you to know that this is where I want to be.
There is nothing else I would rather be doing.
Elder Clayton H. Welch

Amis - Friends in French

I am doing great! 
I can actually understand close to everything now; 
at least the context of everything. 

Here in Metz we use the community free 
internet place.  Its pretty sweet.  
They have 60 free computers with internet 
for people who live in the ville to use and 
all you have to do is sign up for them.  

Some good news for me, I had an exchange 
with one of my zone leaders on Monday, 
an exchange is just when your with another 
missionary for 24 hours, and we had 
such a good time!  We had so much in common 
and it was great to get to know him.  
But what was even better was the success 
we had that day!  So, the missionaries 
here had been teaching this Nigerian women, 
Antonia, before I got here and she 
was actually the first lesson I taught when I got here.  
Oh, she speaks English not French by the way.  
And we had kind of forgotten about her because she lives 
30 minutes away and we are always so busy.  
But her son was baptized in Malaysia 
and she was a reference from him.  So, Elder Cowles 
and I went and instead of teaching a  lesson read 
2 Nephi 31 with her, where Nephi talks about the baptism 
of Christ and afterward, Elder Cowles asked her 
if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes!  
But she is moving back to Nigeria in like a month and she wants 
to be baptized there with her family, and she wants 
her other 4 kids to be baptized too!
Then, after that, we went to our amis, friend in French 
(we don't call investigators investigators, we call them 
friends, its really cool).  He is actually from Nigeria too, 
he is about 25, his name is Benson and he is a way 
cool guy.  So we taught him in English and felt 
the spirit tell us to read the same thing with him.  
After we finished reading the first 13 versus I asked him 
if he would follow Christ's example and be baptized, 
and he said yes!  We set a date with him, the first 
Sunday in August and although it doesn't seem super 
likely that that date will stay, he is working towards it!
Yesterday, our other strong ami, Titi, he is from the 
Congo in Africa, he is the greatest man ever and has 
a wife and 4 children still in Africa and he came to 
France to try and raise money for his family.  
But we asked him to be baptized too and he said he 
would pray about it but because he knows its of Christ, 
he doesn't think it will be no!  
So, overall, a way sweet week.

Elder Clayton Henderson Welch